


Prevailing Winds

by SealLullaby



Series: Seasonal Changes [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brief mentions of Depression, Character Study, Getting Together, M/M, Slice of Life, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 20:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13015854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SealLullaby/pseuds/SealLullaby
Summary: Dash works on himself and works on asking Danny out.





	Prevailing Winds

His boxing lesson ended earlier than expected because his instructor had to catch a flight to attend some conference on sports-induced brain injuries. Dash figured that boxing was probably high on the list of sports that can mess your head up if you weren’t careful. But then again, he played football, so his brain must already be riddled with dead tissue.

Dash hurried through a cold shower, changed into clothes that didn’t reek as much, and shoved his boxing gloves into his duffle bag. He liked boxing, but he liked it even more when his class ended early because that meant hopping across the street to the library, which closed around the same time that his class normally let out. Dash quickly made his way out of the gym and jaywalked across the street. 

Since The Incident his sophomore year, Dash’s parents had reevaluated their parenting approach. It had, up to recently, been mostly hands-off, in that they didn’t really care what he did and who he did it with as long as he wasn’t causing noticeable trouble and was home by dark. Nowadays, Dash couldn’t even leave his house without checking in with one of his parents first. He was surprised that they didn’t follow him into the bathroom to make _sure_ he was actually pissing and wasn’t trying to sneak out through the window.

It was stifling, so he’d started looking for activities that would let him get out of the house every now and then. Sure, his parents were probably trying to assuage their guilt over turning their only son in to a major screw-up—he’d been in therapy long enough to know that it wasn’t really their fault, but he didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart with them about it, so he just let it be—but he couldn’t handle the constant hovering anymore. Plus, Dr. Saito said that it would be good for him to put his mind and talents to more productive use.

So Dash went searching. 

The owner of Amity Park’s only locally-owned gym, Luciana Diaz-Rey, had taken one look at Dash and had decided that he’d make a great punching bag for the kids—“You look like a brick wall. I think you can take it.”— so Dash spent his weekends being beaten up by eleven and twelve-year-olds. He figured he deserved it. In exchange, Luciana allowed him to participate in her husband’s adult boxing class for free. It was a good deal, but what really sweetened the pot was finding out that Danny worked across the street from him.

The slightly sweet scent of newly printed book greeted him as he passed the sliding glass doors of the library. Amity Park was home to an usually large library for such a small town. It was a two-story building with an open lobby that allowed one to look down at the first floor from the second story railing. Dark wooden panels lined the curved circulation desk built into the wall near the entrance. The librarian working behind the desk barely spared him a glance beyond a look that seemed to say, “stay out of trouble, kid, or I’ll bash you over the head with the largest book we own.” Or something like that.

Dash found Danny in the children’s section, cleaning up the mess left by unsupervised terrors whose parents saw the library as their very own babysitting service rather than a public service. He leaned against a wall and watched the skinny brunette bend down to pick up a jigsaw puzzle box with a cartoon cat on the cover. They’ve been talking more often in school since Dash offered Danny a ride home after that wild storm, and Dash found himself in a bit of a predicament. 

He learned that Danny was funny, clever, and kind of a sarcastic asshole. And he realized that he needed to do something about the weird shit he was feeling every time he was around the other boy. He’d have to be a borderline sociopath not to recognize that he was developing a crush. When Danny had told him that he’d started working at the Amity Park Public Library, he’d decided to pick up reading as a hobby and stopped by the place every so often. 

He had at least three unread books on his desk at home. The hobby wasn’t going so well. If anything, he was turning into a hoarder. 

“Hey,” Dash finally said when Danny started shoving books onto their proper shelves without noticing him. 

Danny paused and twisted around to peer over his shoulder. “Hey! What are you doing here?” He turned back and quickly finished working on the stack in his hand. 

“Just returning a book,” he said, which was true. He’d tossed a book down the library’s return shoot outside before coming in. 

“Oh, really? What book was it?” Danny asked.

“Uh,” Dash said, flushing. He’d only read three chapters before throwing in the towel. “Something about a boy who travels around the country and hunts ghosts.” Danny dropped the book in his hand and quickly bent down to pick it up. “I wasn’t that interested in it so I didn’t get much past that. I mean, when you live in a town with real ghosts, why read about fake ones, you know?” He laughed.

Danny snorted. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hey, take these and sort them onto that shelf. The one with all the Dr. Suess books."

They worked in silence for a while until Dash decided to just go ahead with it.He’d been mulling over how to bring the topic up to Danny for days now, and before he lost his nerve, he blurted out, “Besides, the main character was a homophobe, and I’m not so hard on myself that I’d sit there and take it from a made-up dude.” He stared at the book in his hand so he wouldn’t have to see Danny’s expression. _Horton Hears a Who!_ He remembered reading it in elementary school and wondering if there really was a whole other world out there that he didn’t know about. The Ghost Zone probably counted, so yeah, apparently. 

Danny didn’t say anything in response. In fact, he’d stopped moving altogether. When Danny mustered up the courage to glance at him, he was staring intently at the bookshelf. There were two people who knew about him being gay: his mom and Kwan. It wasn’t that Dash was particularly ashamed of the fact or afraid of being bullied. He recognized that he cut an intimidating figure, and his personality was not one conducive to being pushed around. The only person who he was truly reluctant to tell was his father, whose opinion of him mattered too much to risk it. Dr. Saito always said that he needed to be more direct with his feelings, but it was a work in progress. 

With Danny, he just needed to _know_. He needed to know whether he stood a chance. He needed to know if he should give up and back off. Danny had dated Mason for almost a year and a half, which was nearly forever in teenage years.

Danny cleared his throat, but when he spoke, he still sounded a bit squeaky. “Right, well, uh, I think the library’s about to close. We should head out. Meet me out front. I just need to clock out.” The two walked through the lobby in silence.

While waiting outside, he craned his neck to peer up at the sky. He still remembered most of the constellations. It was October, so he searched for Lacerta, the Lizard, which was a series of zigzags that looked nothing like an actual lizard. 

The door opened behind him and he turned. Danny had a backpack slung over his shoulder. “Ready to go?” he asked. His voice was back to normal. Dash didn’t know what to make of Danny’s reaction.

“Yeah,” Dash said. They walked quietly through the library’s parking lot, which was devoid of any cars save one. Probably the head librarian’s car. The crickets were out, cheerfully chirping away without realizing how damn annoying they sounded.

The two of them reached the sidewalk before Danny spoke. “How was your day?”

“It was fine. I volunteer at the gym across from the library on Saturdays, so it’s pretty busy,” Dash said.

“Really? Doing what?”

“I teach a kids’ boxing class, and then I have my own boxing lesson afterward.” Danny stared at Dash incredulously. “What? It’s not that unbelievable.”

Danny grinned, and then he threw back his head and laughed. Dash almost tripped over a crack in the sidewalk in surprise. “Sorry! Sorry,” Danny said, attempting to reign in his mirth. “I was just imagining a bunch of kids trying to punch you. That’s really cool, though.”

They stopped at a crosswalk. While waiting for the pedestrian sign to flicker on, Dash said, “You can come and watch some time. If you want to, that is.” 

“You’re inviting me to watch you get beaten up by kids?” Danny asked, eyes shining with glee. 

Dash scowled. “They’re not beating me up. They don’t even know how to throw punches yet.” 

They walked in silence for a bit until Danny nodded. “Okay. Yeah, I’d like to see that.”

 

 

The rest of the week passed in a blur of homework, football practice, and a fairly lackluster game on Friday night. By the time the weekend rolled around, Dash was ready to bury himself in bed and refuse to budge. The only motivation for not doing that was his boxing lessons and the promise of having Danny there. 

He was surprised to see Danny standing outside his gym, fiddling with his phone. “I didn’t think you’d be early or I would have come sooner,” Dash said.

Danny shoved the phone into his pocket. “I just had to get some stuff done and was in the area. Didn’t see the point of going home only to come back.” The two made their way into the gym’s main lobby, a fairly large room with a reception desk across from the entrance. Behind the desk was a metal rail that separated it from the actual gym, where all the cardio equipment sat.

“Woah, this place is way bigger on the inside than I’d thought it’d be,” Danny said. There were plenty of people in today, most of them middle-aged adults who had just gotten off their nine-to-five shifts and were trying to squeeze in some exercise before dinner. The older crowd usually came in just after the gym opened in the morning, and the teenagers trickled in throughout the evening.

Dash led Danny past the first room, down a staircase opposite the weights room, and into the basement which housed the boxing ring. A few kids were hanging around the ring when Dash entered the room, so he fished around for his keyring and unlocked the glove closet. “Alright, guys. Come and get ‘em.” As usual, there was a mad dash for the “perfect” pair of gloves, even though Dash had repeatedly told them all that the gloves were essentially the same. He dragged out the punching bags and lined them up along the edges of the ring. The parents were understandably wary about allowing their children to beat the shit out of each other, so Luciana had Dash use punching bags—and himself on occasions—for the beginning and intermediate students. The older kids with more skill were allowed to practice on each other, but those classes were taught by different instructors.

Dash wandered over to where Danny sat against the wall. “So what made you do this?” Danny asked, waving his hand to encompass the whole room.

“I don’t know. I guess I was tired of being home all the time and having my parents watching me like hawks. They’ve gotten worse since the whole homecoming…thing,” Dash said, rubbing his neck. “And I thought I could do something useful with my time instead of sitting on my ass all weekend and watching garbage TV. That was most of my last year.” Last year had been particularly rough on him, what with the football ban, therapy, and dealing with what his therapist referred to as situational depression. “I thought I might as well teach these twerps how to throw a decent punch or two. I’m pretty good at it, I guess.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Danny said absently, and despite the lack of heat in his tone, Dash still felt his face heat up in shame. “So it’s okay for me to stay for your practice, too,” Danny asked.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. The others have family come by and watch sometimes.”

Once the last few stragglers arrived, Dash started his class as he always had, with some intense stretching. Once the kids had properly warmed up, Dash had them split up into groups, each with their own punching bag.

He weaved between the groups and handed out individual critiques when he noticed students repeating the same mistakes. “Remember, keep your chin tucked!” Dash shouted. More than one student adjusted their pose.

“Allison, don’t move your elbows so far from your body when you punch,” he said. “Can I fix your posture?” The girl, who’d been his student for almost three months now and would probably be moving to the more advanced class soon, nodded quickly. He showed her how to keep her elbows in even when she punched so as not to leave her sides wide open.

“Julio,” he said to one of his youngest students, “keep your knees bent. Yes, like that.”

The half-hour class always went by pretty fast, but today it felt especially quick. Once he’d called time and had the older students help move the punching bags back into storage, he met with Allison’s parents and discussed moving her up a level. Her father seemed reluctant until he mentioned that they did have a women’s boxing class. 

Danny, who had been chatting with the other parents during the lesson, walked over as Allison’s family said their goodbyes. “So now I get to see the master become the student?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dash said, fishing his own boxing gloves from his duffle bag. 

“You were really good just now. I didn’t know you could be such a good teacher.”

Dash shrugged. “It’s pretty easy with the younger kids because they’re just getting started. I’m out of my depth after that, though.”

“Still,” Danny said, rocking on the heels of his feet. “I can see why they like you so much.” That made Dash pause, and Danny quickly picked up on it. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know. Some of those kids practically have hearts in their eyes when they look at you.” He chuckled, and then went silent for a beat before saying, “What a difference a year makes, huh?”

Dash was saved from having to respond by Ricardo’s booming voice coming from the foot of the stairs. “Dash, good to see you. And you bought a friend!” Ricardo was Luciana’s husband. He was a massive man, almost twice the size of Dash himself, with a weathered face and a neatly trimmed goatee. Ricardo had once been a professional boxer in both Puerto Rico and the United States before hanging up his gloves to open this gym with his wife. He still maintained the muscles though, and Dash had no doubt that the man could crush him with his bare hands. 

Ricardo approached the pair, and Dash said, “Hey, this is a friend of mine, Danny. Danny, this is Ricardo. He owns this gym.”

Danny stuck his hand out and shook Ricardo’s hand. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you! Your gym’s pretty awesome. I might just have to get a membership.”

Ricardo chuckled. “Ah, judging by your grip, I’d say you’re doing pretty well on your own, but hey! I’d never say no to more customers! So will you be watching our Dash here fight? He’s quite good.”

Danny grinned. “Trust me, I know.” He side-eyed Dash, who tried to conceal his wince. Danny’s smile softened. “I sat in on his class.”

Ricardo’s teaching style was almost the complete opposite of Dash’s. Off the ring, the man was as genial and personable as they came. He reveled in laughter and always offered a helping hand to those around him. In the ring, however, it was a different story. He was merciless. “It’s Darwin’s world in here, Dash,” he’d said once. “You gotta eat or be eaten.” He taught the class in a similar manner, barking out mistakes and giving advice in a short order. If the advice wasn’t taken, he’d wipe the floor with you over and over again until you stopped making the mistake. Dash had to admit that it was a strong motivator. 

Today’s lesson was no different. If anything, it was tougher because Dash kept getting distracted by Danny. He’d positioned himself in such a way that he’d be able to glance at Danny over his opponent’s shoulder. The only problem was that his gaze kept straying, and he’d miss attacks and opportunities. Danny himself wasn’t helping. Every time he looked over, Danny would grin and wave or send him a thumbs-up. After a particularly brutal punch to his ribs, Ricardo pulled him aside and whispered, “Dash, keep your head in the ring, or I will have to ask your friend to step out.” Dash clenched his jaw and nodded. Round two was a little better. He only looked at Danny once.

By the end of the forty-five-minute class, Dash was dripping with sweat. His t-shirt was plastered to his body, and he probably reeked. It didn’t stop Danny from coming closer and saying, “Dude, that was awesome!” When Dash just eyed him suspiciously, he said, “No, for real! I mean, I don’t watch a lot of boxing, but I can tell you kicked ass.”

“You need to watch more boxing then. That was bad, probably worse than when I started.” Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. Nothing was as bad as his first boxing lesson.

Danny raised a brow and was about to reply, but his phone started ringing. “Sorry, I have to get this,” he said and wandered away to answer it. Dash pulled his gloves off and wiped them down on the inside and out with an antibacterial spray. He waved goodbye to a few of his fellow students and was in the process of shoving his gloves into his bag when Danny returned, frowning.

“I have to head out,” he said, sounding genuinely put-out. “Family thing, but thanks for letting me come! Maybe I can do it again sometime?” It sounded like a question and a request, so Dash just nodded. Danny’s face brightened before he made for the stairs. “See you on Monday, Dash.” Before Dash could offer to walk with him, he was gone, and when Dash walked out of the gym a few minutes later, Danny was nowhere to be seen.

 

 

A ghost attacked the school on Monday.

The students of Casper High were all too familiar with ghostly occurrences. They even had a special alarm to signal ghost attacks. Dash often wondered what it was about Amity Park that made it such a sweet spot for ghost attacks. Was there a demonic hellhole under the city? Did ley lines intersect somewhere nearby? It was truly baffling, and not even the researchers at Amity University had an explanation.

This time, it was the ghost of an old English teacher who’d apparently taught at Casper High in the early 40s and had died of a heart attack during a particularly heated class. What a way to go. The ghost, a middle-aged woman with her hair wrapped in a tight bun, held a meter-stick in her hand and was swinging it at Lancer. “This is a travesty! Attacking one of your own! Lady, you stop that! _Anna Karenina!_ Get that thing away from me!”

Dash had followed the rest of his classmates out of the building. He snuck away from the watchful eyes of the teachers chaperoning the group and sat underneath the bleachers to avoid the noonday sun. He stared at the eastern wall of the school and noticed a black blur exit the building, followed closely by a bluish blob. They both disappeared through the school’s wall before Dash could get a closer look. Looks like Phantom was at it again.

Phantom was the most iconic figure in Amity Park, even more so than Fenton Works. Dash remembered when he first saw Phantom. It must have been sometime freshman year. A ghost had somehow taken control of all the meat in the school and had tried to kill Sam Mason. Dash couldn’t fathom why all the ghosts of Amity Park were such losers. They had the absolute worst powers. Then again, he didn’t want to come across a _truly_ scary ghost, so maybe he should count his blessings. He’d rather have a ghost obsessed with boxes than one who ate people.

Dash glanced down at the clock on his phone. Thirty more minutes and school would be out. If he stayed, he’d probably have to help the staff clean. With that thought, he stood and made his way towards the parking lot. 

_Going home. Wanna come?_ he texted Kwan.

A few moments later, his phone vibrated. _Nah, hanging out with Star after school._

He fished his keys out of his pocket and was about to unlock the door when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Playing hooky, I see.”

He spun on his heels. Danny stood there with his hands in his pocket and a smile on his face. Dash grinned. “Yeah, want to come with?”

“Where are you going?”

“Eh, I thought about going home but we could go to Nasty Burger if you want.” A shadow passed over Danny’s face at that, smile dimming, so Dash quickly backpedaled. “Or we can do something else.”

“No, Nasty Burger is fine. I’m _starving_.” Danny rubbed his stomach dramatically. “Let’s go!”

 

 

“You did not!” Danny exclaimed as they made their way inside the burger joint. 

“I really did. My aunt was _pissed_. She told my parents that I was the Devil’s child,” Dash said.

Danny tried to stifle his laugh, but couldn’t quite manage. “Oh man, if I tried to prank my aunt like that, she’d snap me in half. Her arms are as big as I am,” Danny said. They walked to the counter where a perky twenty-something-year-old with flat, soulless eyes took their order. Dash went with the classic Nasty Burger with extra sauce—this place truly was the pits but inexplicably the only fast food place in town—and Danny chose a combo meal with the Burger Burglar, extra fries, onion rings, and a large milkshake. Dash paid for both of their meals despite Danny’s protests, and they seated themselves near the counter to wait. 

They kept the conversation light, discussing the school’s ghost attack and restaurants that they’d want replacing Nasty Burger, until their food arrived, at which point Danny looked Dash in the eyes and said, “Tucker wants me to stop talking to you.” He took a big bite of his burger. Condiment-coated lettuce fell out of the other end, but Danny didn’t do anything to stop it. 

Dash didn’t know how to respond. His guts twisted in a knot at the thought of Danny breaking all contact with Dash. He watched Danny slowly chew his food. Watched him swallow. Watched the bob of his Adam’s apple as the food traveled down his throat. “Well, uh-”

“I told him I wouldn’t do that to you,” Danny said. He continued eating like it was no big deal, like he hadn’t just yanked the rug from under Dash’s feet. “Sam doesn’t get it, but she doesn’t hate you as much as Tucker, so…” He trailed off and took a few bites of his fries. “I haven’t told them what you told me, though. That thing at the library. I know what you meant by that and I think I know why you told me. Sam thinks I’m oblivious about that stuff, but I’ve gotten better at it, I think.” Dash felt his heartbeat in his ears. His palms started sweating, and his body alternated between feeling too hot and freezing cold. 

“I hated you for the longest time. You were a real asshole back then. And I didn’t know why. We were friends in elementary school, and then something happened when we started middle school. What was it?” Danny looked up and met Dash’s frozen gaze. “Never mind. That’s not important. I guess what I’m going for is that you’re different now, and I understand that. I’ve done some really shitty things, too, and I wasn’t always the nicest person to the people I know. But you really have changed, and you're always trying to help me now, and you’ve been nicer to my friends. So, uh, if you want to try this thing, I think I can give it a shot.”

In all his life, Dash doubted that he’d be more surprised then he was in this very moment. His head was a jumble of “w _hat the fuck_ ” and “ _yes, yes, yes”_ and shame and elation all at once. He wanted to simultaneously sink into the earth and leap out of his seat in joy. He knew he didn’t deserve it. He really had been the shittiest, ugliest person before. Sometimes, he felt the same destructive urges rise up when he was feeling cornered and small. If he wasn’t in therapy, and if he didn’t have the coping tools that he had now, he realized that he wouldn’t be in this moment right now. 

He needed to give Dr. Saito the _best_ Christmas present. 

“Dash?” Danny said, waving his hand in front of Dash’s face. “Are you there? Have I broken you already?”

Dash took a sip of his soda to wet his dry mouth before speaking. “Just to be clear, you’re telling me that you’re okay with, uh, going out with me, like on a date. Right? Or am I hearing you wrong?”

Danny smiled and his dimples stood out and _melted_ Dash’s brain. “No, you heard right.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, floundering for words. He took a bite of his food, which he’d forgotten about up until now.

Danny’s bright smile morphed into a smirk. “As long as you don’t have a crush on my sister anymore because that would be too weird even for me.”

He almost choked on his burger. “No,” he practically shouted, turning a few heads. He lowered his voice to a near whisper. “I mean, I don’t think I’m _into_ girls.”

“Good. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m actually bisexual, so if you have a problem with that, we can’t go any further,” Danny said firmly. “I hear that some people don’t like it, so if you’re-”

“I don’t,” Dash said quickly, “have a problem with it.” He was just relieved that Danny wasn’t a hundred percent straight.

“Good. Now, I’m going to finish eating because I really am hungry.” Danny demolished the rest of his burger and fries before Dash’s shell-shocked eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to try writing again after a several-years-long break, so this is probably rough. Working in past-tense is harder than I remember! 
> 
> I don't have a beta, so let me know if you come across any mistakes (you all are my betas now!) and I'll fix them. I'd appreciate some constructive feedback, too! This might turn into a series because I have some plans, but it might be a while until the next one goes up.


End file.
